Patience not panic: Why GAA’s best not losing sleep over League form

Limerick, Tyrone and Dublin have failed to impress this spring but such early stumbles may mean very little in the bigger picture.

Richie English of Limerick after the Allianz Hurling League Division 1 Group A match between Limerick and Galway at TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

In early March 2013, Kerry arrived into a freezing Ballybofey craving the warmth of a result, even just the relative heat of a performance. Snow on the mountains around the town suggested how far away summer still was, but a nine-point beating was a reminder of how moored Kerry were in the morass.

A fourth successive league defeat hinted at a burgeoning crisis. Éamonn Fitzmaurice was in his first season as Kerry manager. He was only 35 at the time, still learning and trying to adapt to the magnitude of the job and the weight of history it carried.